Particularly in establishments where the display of merchandise requires large open areas with substantial shelving or table surfaces, such as nurseries and similar establishments, it has commonly been the practice to assemble rows of benches upon which the merchandise could be displayed. Typically, such benches are large, heavy, and not well adapted either to disassembly, or to flexibility in arrangement. The weight and size of such bench units provides a constant impediment to arranging the units and available merchandise in the most advantageous manner for display. Further, on those occasions where some or all of these benches are no longer required, their storage in assembled configuration or disassembly have both proven to be a major problem.
Accordingly, there is a pressing need in these industries as well as in other situations for modular bench systems which can easily and quickly be set up or disassembled and arranged in a wide variety of configurations. Unfortunately, the few attempts which have been made to provide such modular systems have resulted in units which are often complex, difficult and time consuming to assemble, and unstable due to their method of fabrication and assembly as well as the materials used. As a result, such systems, while technically modular and intended to be adapted for disassembling and storage when not being used, have frequently proven to be no more suitable than the large heavy benches which they were designed to replace.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide an inexpensive, light weight, stable modular bench system which avoids the problems of the prior art and provides an interlocking system of benches suitable for displaying merchandise or for other uses commonly associated with benches.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an interlocking modular bench system which is both easy to fabricate, assemble, disassemble and store and which is adapted to be arranged in any of a wide variety of configurations and variations to suit the particular needs of the individual employing the units.